Nowadays, there are many different types and styles of body jewelry. When body jewelry first became fashionable in the early 90s, mostly people only wore surgical steel and occasionally you would see people like the Fakir wearing large bone jewelry. Today, people have gone back to aboriginal roots and many more people are wearing body jewelry made from natural materials. If you are going to wear organic or natural body jewelry, it is important to know how to properly care for these materials, as you would not want to ruin or damage your jewelry by accidentally cleaning them the wrong way.
First off, you should know that organic body jewelry is typically handmade. It is usually for people who have larger gauges with healed piercings. Never use natural body jewelry in a fresh piercing as the likelihood of infection will skyrocket. When you first receive a piece of organic jewelry, you should always clean it before wearing. Never assume that a vendor has cleaned your jewelry. Your body is your responsibility.
Organic body jewelry is typically made from bone, stone, horn, would, bamboo, obsidian, stone or fossil. While there are other materials that are used make body jewelry, we will focus on how to care for these and you should be able to extrapolate if you have a piece of body jewelry that is made from a unique substance.
Obsidian, stone, and fossil should be cleaned with mild temperature water, a mild soap and then polished dry. You should avoid extremely hot or extreme cold water as it may damage your jewelry. These materials have a tendency to chip easily so be careful when they are not on your body.
Bone or horn body jewelry should never be soaked in water to clean. Use a damp cloth or a rag coupled with mild soap to clean you can follow up by polishing with tea tree oil or jojoba oil. Be especially careful not to drop bone jewelry and know that little upkeep is required minus an occasional polish with one of the two above mentioned oils. Bone is particularly more prone to chip so be careful not to drop it.
Bamboo body jewelry must never be allowed to get wet. Although the outer layer is water resistant, the inner layers will quickly absorb water in your jewelry will be ruined. You can polish them once again with jojoba or tea tree oil.
Wood jewelry must be cleaned with a damp cloth and dried immediately. You should never soak wooden body jewelry as it can easily expand, warp, or develop cracks. if you decide to treat the wood with a particular chemical, which I highly advise against, be certain that the chemicals will not react with your skin.
Although aboriginal cultures have seemingly worn organic body jewelry for thousands of years without incident, you should still err on the side of caution and clean your jewelry on a regular basis. Pay attention to these simple guidelines, and you will be able to enjoy your jewelry for a long time to come.